The main business within the town limits was the Capen Shoe Company Factory,[3] located at 7th Avenue (now known as Willamette Falls Drive) and 12th Street.
Some residents used the trolley service to travel to work at the paper mills on the west side of the Willamette River and in Oregon City.
Newspaper reports of the time, state that 10% of the town (35 people) were stricken with typhoid fever and at least one died.
Downey claimed that Willamette had not filed the proper paperwork of incorporation according to Oregon law and therefore was unable to collect a tax.
In 1913, the town of Willamette made two unsuccessful attempts to annex its neighboring communities to the north, Sunset, Windsor, West Oregon City, and Bolton.